Department of Mechanical Convergence Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, 04763, Republic of Korea.
Post-Silicon Semiconductor Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, 02792, Republic of Korea.
Nat Commun. 2022 Nov 7;13(1):6705. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-34442-y.
Sensory neurons generate spike patterns upon receiving external stimuli and encode key information to the spike patterns, enabling energy-efficient external information processing. Herein, we report an epifluidic electronic patch with spiking sweat clearance using a sensor containing a vertical sweat-collecting channel for event-driven, energy-efficient, long-term wireless monitoring of epidermal perspiration dynamics. Our sweat sensor contains nanomesh electrodes on its inner wall of the channel and unique sweat-clearing structures. During perspiration, repeated filling and abrupt emptying of the vertical sweat-collecting channel generate electrical spike patterns with the sweat rate and ionic conductivity proportional to the spike frequency and amplitude over a wide dynamic range and long time (> 8 h). With such 'spiking' sweat clearance and corresponding electronic spike patterns, the epifluidic wireless patch successfully decodes epidermal perspiration dynamics in an event-driven manner at different skin locations during exercise, consuming less than 0.6% of the energy required for continuous data transmission. Our patch could integrate various on-skin sensors and emerging edge computing technologies for energy-efficient, intelligent digital healthcare.
感觉神经元在接收外部刺激时会产生尖峰模式，并将关键信息编码到尖峰模式中，从而实现节能的外部信息处理。在此，我们报告了一种使用包含垂直汗液收集通道的传感器的电致流体电子贴片，该传感器具有尖峰汗液清除功能，可实现事件驱动、节能、长期无线监测表皮汗液动力学。我们的汗液传感器在通道的内壁上包含纳米网电极和独特的汗液清除结构。在出汗过程中，垂直汗液收集通道的反复填充和突然排空会产生电尖峰模式，其汗液速率和离子电导率与尖峰频率和幅度成正比，具有较宽的动态范围和较长的时间 (>8 h)。通过这种“尖峰”汗液清除和相应的电子尖峰模式，电致流体无线贴片能够以事件驱动的方式成功解码运动过程中不同皮肤位置的表皮汗液动力学，消耗的能量不到连续数据传输所需能量的 0.6%。我们的贴片可以集成各种皮肤贴片传感器和新兴的边缘计算技术，以实现节能、智能的数字医疗保健。
